Luận án Thực hành phát triển chương trình ESP cho sinh viên không chuyên Anh - Nghiên cứu tại các trường đại học TP.HCM

ABSTRACT In the effort to enhance the quality of English teaching in tertiary institutions, ESP teaching is considered to make English learning more relevant to the students’ use of English in their future jobs, and thus arouse their interest and motivation in English learning. The development of ESP curriculum is, therefore, of great significance to meet these needs and teacher involvement in the process is essential because an ESP teacher is not only a teacher but also a collaborator, a course designer and material provider, a researcher, and an evaluator (Dudley-Evans & St. The study thus aims to investigate ESP teachers’ practice of developing the ESP curriculum for non-English majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City to find out about the practice of this process. The study also aims to investigate the ESP teachers’ perceptions of the process, the advantages and difficulties they may encounter as well as their suggestions for improvement of the process.

With the aim of investigating the practice of ESP teachers in developing curriculum and for the nature of the research questions, a descriptive research design was employed. Data collection was carried out with three instruments, that is, documentation, questionnaire and interview. Various types of documents related to the ESP curriculum development process were collected. Seventy-eight ESP teachers from four universities in Ho Chi Minh City agreed to participate in the study and answered all the closed questions in the questionnaire and among them, twenty-one teachers took part in the interview.

The findings of the study revealed the steps that the ESP teachers participated in most were determining the teaching methodology and support for effective teaching, and determining the assessment contents and methods. The steps of the curriculum development process that the ESP teachers were not involved in most were needs analysis, course goals or objectives specification, and curriculum evaluation. The advantages for the ESP teachers in the curriculum development process can be counted 4 of existing knowledge and skills in teaching and planning lessons in General English, availability of coursebooks and teaching materials for certain specialties, support and encouragement from their faculties and universities, and individual help from specialist teachers in the same universities. The difficulties ESP teachers often encountered in the curriculum development process were undefined workplaces’ target needs, unclear course goals and objectives, inappropriate teaching coursebooks and materials, lack of specialist knowledge, and lack of effective tools for needs analysis and curriculum evaluation at different stages of the curriculum development process.

They proposed various recommendations concerning conducting a comprehensive needs analysis as a scientific base for later stages of the curriculum development process, specifying clear goals and objectives, and selecting and sequencing contents based on the needs analysis information, which in turns serves as the scientific base for the selection or compilation of coursebooks and teaching materials, supporting teachers with specialist training, supportive teaching and learning environment and assessment tools, as well as effective tools for ongoing needs analysis and curriculum evaluation. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 6 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.

10 LIST OF FIGURES. 11 LIST OF TABLES. 12 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION. Statement of purpose.

Scope of the study. Significance of the study. Structure of the study. 21 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW.

Definitions of key terms. English for Specific Purposes. Language curriculum development. Language curriculum components.

Common approaches in language curriculum development. Common procedures in language curriculum development. Steps in ESP curriculum development. ESP needs analysis.

Specification of course goals or objectives. Selection and sequencing of content. Methodology and support for effective teaching. Selection or compilation of materials.

Determination of assessment methods and contents. Teacher’s involvement in the curriculum development process. Previous studies on teacher’s involvement in curriculum development and ESP teaching. Summary of the chapter.

66 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Data collection methods. Documentation and artefacts. Piloting data collection.

Data collection procedure. Data analysis methods. Analysing documents and artefacts. Analysing questionnaire data.

Analysing interview data. Reliability and validity. Summary of the chapter. 83 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.

Teachers’ perceptions of developing ESP curriculum for non-English majors. Teachers’ general perceptions of developing ESP curriculum. Teachers’ perceptions of the steps in developing ESP curriculum. Step One: Analyzing ESP needs.

Step Two: Specifying the course goals or objectives. Step Three: Selecting and sequencing the contents. Step Four: Methodology and support for effective teaching. Step Five: Selecting or compiling coursebooks or teaching materials.

Step Six: Determining methods and contents of assessment. Step Seven: Evaluating the performed curriculum through different channels or tools. Teachers’ actual participation in the process of developing ESP curriculum at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City. Step One: Analyzing ESP needs.

Step Two: Specifying the course goals or objectives. Step Three: Selecting and sequencing the contents. Step Four: Methodology and support for effective teaching. Step Five: Selecting or compiling coursebooks or teaching materials.

Step Six: Determining methods and contents of assessment. Step Seven: Evaluating the performed curriculum through different channels or tools124 4. Advantages and difficulties in the ESP curriculum development process. Step One: Analyzing ESP needs.

Step Two: Specifying the course goals or objectives. Step Three: Selecting and sequencing the contents. Step Four: Methodology and support for effective teaching. Step Five: Selecting or compiling coursebooks or teaching materials.

Summary of the chapter. 131 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. Summary of key findings. Contributions of the study.

Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further studies. Summary of the chapter. 148 Appendix 1: The questionnaire (English version).

148 Appendix 2: The questionnaire (Vietnamese version). 159 Appendix 3: Interview questions (English). 169 Appendix 4: Interview questions (Vietnamese). 170 Appendix 5: Table of Reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha).

171 9 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a Foreign Language EMP English for Mathematical Purposes ESL English as a Second Language ESP English for Specific Purposes HUFI University of Food Industry LSA Learning Situation Analysis LSP Languages for Specific Purposes MOET Ministry of Education and Training PSA Present Situation Analysis SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences TSA Target Situation Analysis 10 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: A model of the parts of the curriculum design process (adapted from Nation & Macalister, 2010) .2: Tyler’s Curriculum Development Model (adapted from Tyler, 1949) .3: Backward-design model (adapted from Wiggins and McTighe, 1998) .4: Flowchart presentation of the Taba-Tyler curriculum development model (adapted from Taba,1962; Tyler, 1949, 1969) .5: Procedures of curriculum process (adapted from Wheeler, 1967) .6: Systematic Approach to Designing and Maintaining Language Curriculum (adapted from Brown, 1995) .7: A teacher’s path through the production of new or adapted materials (adapted from Jolly & Bolitho, 1998). 54 11 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Participants’ ethnographic information .2: Research inquiries and their corresponding data collection instruments.3: Questionnaire item distribution .1: Teachers’ general perceptions of the ESP curriculum development steps .2: Teachers’ general perceptions of the university/faculty’s implementation level of the ESP curriculum development steps.3: Teachers’ general perceptions of their participation .4: Teachers’ perceptions of the ESP needs analysis tools .5: Teachers’ perceptions of the contents to be collected in ESP needs analysis .6: Teachers’ perceptions of the stake-holders involved in ESP needs analysis.7: Teachers’ perceptions of the bases of goals or objectives specification .8: Teachers’ perceptions of the ESP syllabus framework types .9: Teachers’ perceptions of the elements ensuring the ESP curriculum effectiveness 95 Table 4.10: Teachers’ perceptions of the activities supporting the ESP curriculum implementation .11: Teachers’ perceptions of types of ESP coursebooks and materials .12: Teachers’ perceptions of the bases for selecting or compiling ESP coursebooks and materials .13: Teachers’ perceptions of the specification of the assessment methods and contents in ESP curriculum development .14: Teachers’ perceptions of the bases or principles for determining testing and assessment requirements in ESP curriculum development .15: Teachers’ perceptions of the contents to be evaluated in ESP curriculum evaluation .16: The ESP needs analysis tools used by the university/faculty .17: The ESP needs analysis tools used by the teachers .18: The contents collected for ESP needs analysis by the university/faculty .19: The contents collected for ESP needs analysis by the teachers .20: The stake-holders involved in ESP needs analysis by the university/faculty .21: The stake-holders involved in ESP needs analysis by the teachers .22: The bases for goals or objectives specification by the university/faculty .23: The bases for goals or objectives specification by the teachers .24: The types of ESP syllabus framework developed at the university/faculty .25: The elements or mechanisms implemented by the university/faculty to ensure the effectiveness of the ESP curriculum .26: The elements or mechanisms implemented by the teachers to ensure the effectiveness of the ESP curriculum .27: The university/faculty’s activities to support the ESP curriculum implementation .28: The teachers’ participation in the supportive activities for the ESP curriculum implementation .29: The sufficiency of the ESP coursebooks and materials at the university/faculty 119 Table 4.30: Teachers’ participation in selecting or compiling the ESP coursebooks and materials .31: Assessment methods and contents specified by the university/faculty .32: Assessment methods and contents specified by the teachers .33: The university/faculty’s reference to the bases for selecting or compiling ESP coursebooks and materials .34: Teachers’ reference to the bases for selecting or compiling ESP coursebooks and materials .35: The university/faculty’s practice of evaluating ESP curriculum .36: Teachers’ practice of evaluating ESP curriculum. 125 14 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Chapter One presents the overview of the thesis. First, the rationale for choosing the thesis is described including the personal rationale and theoretical rationale.

The aims of the thesis are then stated and clarified by the research questions of the study. The later sections of the chapter address the significance of the study and the ouline into which the thesis is organized. Rationale The effectiveness of English teaching and learning is of great concern at every level of education in Vietnam as a result of the international integration process and the fact that English is the most important language for communication with foreign individuals and organizations. As an EFL teacher at a university in Ho Chi Minh City, the researcher has always been concerned with how to enhance the effectiveness of her English classes.

In the early years of her teaching, the researcher focused more on her teaching methodology and later gradually moved towards the students’ learning, especially their self-study, to be more learner-centered. The more learner-centered the researcher becomes, the more obviously she recognizes two problems. First, one of the biggest obstacles of the students’ effective English learning is their motivation. The second problem arose when several alumni approached the faculty where the researcher worked and expressed their concern that they had a great number of difficulties in using English at their workplaces and that the English they used at work did not really correspond to what they had learned at university.

These two problems drove the researcher to go on field trips to the students’ different future workplaces to investigate their needs of using English more carefully. The field trips to the learners’ future workplaces helped the researcher realize the importance of an ESP curriculum that corresponds to the learners’ currrent or future 15 work. This did not only meet the society’s needs but also enhanced the students’ motivation in their English learning thanks to the relevance between the university program curriculum and their needs in future jobs. In revising the ESP curriculum, the researcher was most interested in the role of the ESP teachers in developing the ESP curriculum as Dudley-Evans and St.

John (1998) puts it that an ESP teacher is not only a teacher but also a collaborator, a course designer and material provider, a researcher, and an evaluator.